The basic animal nature of humans was displayed during the celebration of the Holy Week when the television channels showed movies of our Lord Jesus Christ suffering from physical abuse by those involved in his crucifixion. The physical abuse and cruelty that led to Christ’s painful death on the cross had, in fact, been occurring even before the earthly time of Christ.
Coincidentally, during the Holy Week, television stations also showed films depicting the life of professional gladiators, complete with the gory results of human physical combats using sharp, bladed weapons.
These films illustrated the highest examples of depravity of the human race as practiced by the ruling Roman political leaders and the Roman people who applauded upon seeing the fallen unfortunate victims of their inhuman sport.
The history of humankind is full of accounts of inhuman practices of physical combat designed to inflict physical suffering to the combatants, especially to the fallen victims.
One has to explain why this behavior has persisted, in various forms, to this day in the minds of people and in the nations they represent.
Apparently, some modern humans have not learned from history, and have not appreciated the intrinsic worth of human beings.
We, Filipinos have many bad habits that have been embedded in our culture, and only few voices among us have expressed ethical or moral concerns against these practices. Because wild animals are considered “lower animals”, many feel justified in using them for their own purposes and ends.
For example, we use cocks, dogs, and horses to fight usually to the death as a way to earn money or to entertain us, forgetting that these animals also feel pain as a result of physical injuries sustained from fighting.
When we practice these things, we are not any better than the Romans who applauded when a gladiator fell and died.
And more importantly, we are living at the basic level of behavior in common with the animals.
Humans must behave beyond the basic level because we are moral and ethical creatures. We must demonstrate through our behavior that we are indeed ethical and moral beings.
It is suggested that something is embedded in the human genetic make-up. Some would say there are genes for instinctive behavior of people that make them angry and fight. These are things that we and the higher forms of animals have in common.
But the highly evolved human brain has also restraining genes that balance or oppose the effects of genes for aggression. We see these in the higher mammals where in cases of conflicts, initial physical confrontations function only for testing the strengths of the combatants as a signal for the weaker one to give up and flee. It is, therefore, very rare for these species to fight to the death.
Thus, for higher forms of creation, including humans, there is a genetic provision for rational thinking and for avoidance of inhuman and bloody confrontations. We must use these mechanisms to keep the peace among us, as individuals and as nations.
As the Apostle Paul says, we must live in peace with all men.
